[xsmommy]

do your chilean counterparts speak english well? who are you hanging with? are you speaking any spanish?
empanadas are one of the national dishes of chile, glad you are experiencing some of the culture. i continue to be J ; )

[SoothingDave]

The engineers, or at least some of them, speak English well enough. It's working with the electrician workers that is more problematic.

When you can't convey "swap those ones (wires) with the other ones so we can test if the problem is here or there" without a lot of pointing at drawings and gesticulating, it slows things down.

That said, I got more done in a 6-hour "half day" today than I had on whole days earlier this week. Cause I had a good crew (people willing to work on a Sunday) and our translator engineer hung around most of the day cause there were no other jobs to attract his attention.